BGE gas holder overlooking JFX to be imploded Sunday

The Melvale Gas Holder near Cold Spring Lane and the JFX is the last remaining gas storage facility that once served Central Maryland. BGE plans to implode the gas holder in early 2013.

Alison Knezevich, The Baltimore Sun

An old BGE gas storage tank overlooking the Jones Falls Expressway and Cold Spring Lane is set to be imploded Sunday morning, officials say.

The Melvale Gas Holder, built in 1933, is scheduled for demolition around 7 a.m. Sunday, the company said. BGE stopped using the steel structure in 1997, saying its technology is obsolete. The holder is 258 feet tall and sits on a 26-acre site.

The Jones Falls Expressway and Cold Spring Lane near the site are scheduled to be closed for the implosion.

Beginning at 5 a.m. Sunday, lanes in both directions of the JFX between Falls Road and Northern Parkway will be closed, but a single lane of traffic will stay open, according to the Baltimore transportation department.

Starting at 7:20 a.m., all lanes of the expressway in the area will close until about 7:40 a.m. Motorists traveling north will be detoured off the expressway at Falls Road, and those driving south will be detoured onto Northern Parkway.

Also, between 7 a.m. and about 7:45 a.m. Sunday, Cold Spring Lane will be closed between Greenspring Avenue and Falls Road. Additionally, Tamarind Road will be closed at Yellowwood Avenue, with no access to Cold Spring.

BGE officials say there is no designated viewing area for the public, and that it will be hard to see the implosion because of the traffic closures and where the structure sits.

"The best place to really see it is on your television," BGE spokesman Aaron Koos said.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly described where Cold Spring Lane would be closed. The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.